Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1211: Chapter 923: Thank-You Gift

After leaving Nara, Luo Su was calm all the way, just staring out the window.

Huai Shi knew he was not feeling well, but he didn’t say anything, even when Luo Su occasionally had unreasonable demands like wanting eel rice in the middle of nowhere, Huai Shi would pinch his nose and accommodate him.

Yet he could feel the Sorrow surging like tides beneath this man’s calm exterior...

"Don’t be sad," Huai Shi comforted, "There’s always regret."

"It’s nothing, I’m not sad."

Luo Su looked up and revealed a weary smile, "See how happy I am."

Huai Shi shook his head, sighed, and stopped talking.

Unexpectedly, the death of an old friend had such a huge impact on him.

Perhaps even someone as infuriating as Luo Su would have soft spots deep inside, right?

He pressed the accelerator and continued forward.

"Ah, winter has come."

Luo Su stared at the snowflakes outside the car window and muttered, "How wonderful it would be if we could ski."

In the driver’s seat, Huai Shi’s movement paused for a moment, but he didn’t say anything, turned right ahead, and headed towards the ski resort.

Forget it.

Let’s just accompany him to relax.

Four hours later, Luo Su came off the sled, satisfied, as if he had reminisced times past, feeling a bit comforted inside.

But when he lowered his eyes, he still sighed regretfully, "It’s so cold, if only we could have kaiseki."

An hour later, through Huai Shi’s identity as Hell Kitchen Demon, top-notch kaiseki at the Yingzhou Border Restaurant opened its doors for the esteemed Mr. Luo Su.

"Such good wine here."

Luo Su stood before the counter, paused in his movement as though recalling: "Back when everyone..."

Huai Shi gritted his teeth and pulled out his credit card.

After a hearty meal and drinks, Luo Su finally showed some smile, gratefully saying to Huai Shi, "Thank you for your efforts."

"It’s okay, not a bother."

Huai Shi covered his wallet and struggled to squeeze out a smile, "Just lending you a hand, don’t worry about it."

"How about we soak in a hot spring after eating?" Luo Su excitedly suggested, "It seems a bit far, would it trouble you?"

The tatami under Huai Shi quietly cracked.

"No...no trouble..."

He lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, then finally looked up slowly again, smiling, "What...what hot spring do you want to soak in?"

"Iwami’s hot springs seem pretty good. Hakone is also nice, hard to choose... But upon mentioning hot springs, I recall Atami hot springs spoken of during dating days with Yang Zi."

Luo Su gazed into the night, his expression full of longing, "How nice if there were a chance to visit there?"

Three hours later, after enjoying a student’s complete scrubbing service, Luo Su hummed a tune and soaked in the hot spring.

He raised the sake cup, gazing at the bright moon above.

Sinking into reminiscence.

"If there were a blonde beauty to soothe my heart, wouldn’t that be earthly bliss?"

After finishing, he inconspicuously glanced to his side.

Beside him, Huai Shi was smoking, ignoring him, just flicking some ash into Luo Su’s pool.

Luo Su coughed twice and said again, "If there were a beauty to soothe my heart..."

"Speaking of which, there’s a weird thing."

Huai Shi took a smoke, looked down at the phone, and suddenly said, "I just discovered that during the day, someone booked the highest-level care service with Tanbo’s medical department for a whole year and put it on my bill, not sure if you have any clue?"

Luo Su seemed not to hear, only gazed at the moonlight, sighed deeply.

"Life is short, like falling cherry blossoms... Glorious for a moment, not knowing when old friends could meet again nor who could relieve my sorrow..."

Bang!

The Alchemy Bomb exploded with a roar in the hot spring, and the burst pipes spewed scorching steam, blocking Luo Su’s face, shoving the latter half of his words back into his throat.

Steam rose, falling like a torrential rain.

Luo Su still maintained the posture of raising a cup to invite the bright moon, scattered white hair sticking to his face, quite wretched.

Only when lowering his head could his melancholy not be concealed.

He raised a hand, wiping the tears from the corner of his mouth, "Old friends gone, in an instant making me so embarrassed, sorry, Huai Shi, for letting you see my laughingstock..."

"You have enough, haven’t you!"

Huai Shi shouted angrily, pulling a gun and repeatedly pulling the trigger at his old face.

Yet even The Fly King couldn’t pierce through this Old Turtle’s skin.

Luckily for him, I thought he was sad and wanted to comfort him, and if it weren’t for the message from the one at the foot of the mountain, he might have played along with this old turtle until next week!

"Are you even human, Luo Su!"

Huai Shi glared and roared in anger, "I was so worried about you!"

"Oh dear, isn’t it overwhelming to be favored?"

Luo Su seemed touched, chuckled, took a bullet off his face, "Seeing a student care for themselves, anyone would want to indulge a little..."

You damn well have the nerve to talk about indulging!

Huai Shi laughed ironically, "I’ll arrange an elegant seat at Jiang De for you! And give you a cement bucket! Ensuring you indulge to the fullest!"

He wasn’t really pained for that money.

Well, he was rather pained, after all, used to being stingy... But even if he took the best sake in Yingzhou every day to soak in, it couldn’t spend half a bit of Tanbo’s revenue.

But the problem was, for a moment... Okay, for most of the day, Huai Shi genuinely believed this old bastard was sad!

Even, he really believed that Mrs. Yang Zi was dead.

In the end, they were truly seasoned actors exerting their talents, making a young idol stunned!

Huai Shi only felt his hopeful heart shattered into pieces.

This bunch of Old Turtles has so much drama, I want to go back to Tanbo!

"How come you old geezers have so many tricks up your sleeves?" he asked angrily, "Can’t you speak properly and straightforwardly?"

Luo Su shrugged helplessly, thought for a moment, and earnestly replied, "Because the straightforward people are all dead, Huai Shi."

Such a deep remark left Huai Shi stunned on the spot.

In the sudden silence, the old man raised his hand, brushed the water droplets and disheveled white hair back, and laughed up at the sky:

"Isn’t it? Knights as upright as Auden and Gerald, stubborn like old Fauci, as fearless as Mulean...

Those brilliant, beautiful, and admirable people all perished with Utopia.

Those like Woodman and Matthes, who lost hope, fell into Hell. Those like Peron, filled with hatred and having lost everything, went to the Border... What remains of those who stayed?"

He gazed at the bright moon above, muttering to himself, "Someone like me, a lifetime reserved but never called upon, like those old guys cooped up in libraries, or observers like Tong Ji who never belonged to Utopia, the pitiable ones like Yang Zi wandering aimlessly... What are we?"

"Look, Huai Shi."

He spread his arms, smiled self-deprecatingly, "This is everything we now face, a time long gone, a Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy long shattered—"

Huai Shi was left speechless.

"So, don’t be disappointed. The Ivory Tower doesn’t represent Utopia, nor can I, because it’s not the whole of it nor its true value."

Luo Su turned back with a smile to his student behind him, "If I have anything worth showing them, treasures and leverage worth boasting of, it’s nothing but the elusive future."

He solemnly said:

"—You and the future you represent."

Under that gaze, Huai Shi couldn’t help but sigh and surrender.

"Okay, I give up."

He averted his eyes, "You old creature can talk about anything... Can we not discuss this, it’s so awkward!"

"Haha, that’s your teacher’s expectation of you, Huai Shi, work hard."

Luo Su stood up, patted his shoulder, "Don’t worry, at least these words aren’t a lie to you, and..."

He paused for a moment and seriously told him, "Thank you for the wine."

With that, he left the astonished Huai Shi where he stood, picked up his bath basket, and hummed a vague tune as he turned and left.

It took a long time for Huai Shi to react.

Luo Su was actually thanking me?

Unbelievable...

Then he noticed the ruined hot spring in front of him, the sound of sirens in the distance, the hot spring server screaming in the corner, and... the gun in his own hand?

"No, uh, listen to me explain."

Huai Shi was dumbfounded, raised his hands, instinctively wanting to find Luo Su, only to find the Old Turtle had long disappeared!

Everything went black before his eyes.

Eight hours later, on the other end of Yingzhou, Huai Shi oddly experienced the same sorrow as Mrs. Yang Zi.

People’s hearts are connected.

Thinking of this, Huai Shi couldn’t help but be teary-eyed.

Luo Su, damn you...

.

.

The next day, morning.

After a good sleep, a refreshed Luo Su enjoyed breakfast at the soup shop, sympathetically looking at Huai Shi across the table, "You look so pale, young man, take care of your health, don’t stay up late because later nights are long ahead..."

"Who do you think caused all this!"

Huai Shi slapped the table angrily, "I didn’t get back from the police station until four in the morning. You know how awkward it was to explain to the people at Deer’s Sing Hall that I’m Huai Shi, that Huai Shi from Tanbo?"

"Don’t worry, no one will laugh at you, no, actually, people at Deer’s Sing Hall might be quite surprised."

Luo Su calmly held his bowl, speaking casually, "It’s rare to see someone as law-abiding as you, Huai Shi. Most Sublimators, after doing something, either climb walls to escape or resist arrest with violence. Those with a bit of status usually have an air of nonchalance when they encounter Thief Change Department officers... When they occasionally meet a big figure cooperating honestly like you, they almost want to burn incense in gratitude, so they won’t use this to trouble you."

With that, he raised his hand, ordering a breakfast for Huai Shi.

"Okay, after eating, rest in the car, I’ll drive today." Luo Su said, "If we take a shortcut, we should arrive by evening."

He put down his chopsticks, smiling, "This time, it’ll be quick."

"Yingzhou?" Huai Shi asked.

"No."

Luo Su shook his head, "Beyond Yingzhou."

In just half an hour, Luo Su drove Huai Shi to the seaside.

At the private berth at the port, awaiting them was a massive yacht, rather jaw-dropping in size.

On the three-story high, pure white yacht, the Ivory Tower logo was printed, and the sixty-plus meter long hull stood like a behemoth among other yachts at the port.

The spacious deck, big enough to host a party, even had a helicopter pad at the end.

"Overall length of sixty-two meters, draft depth of seven meters, interior furnishings are top-grade from the Silver Stele, source power and electricity dual propulsion, the monster-level engine produced by the Cavendish Workshop allows its cruising speed to reach ninety knots, enough to leave behind anyone trying to race you at sea... The order was placed two months ago, just delivered the day before yesterday, and I had someone bring it here directly."

Luo Su walked in front, took the keys from the hands of the waiting people on the shore, tossed them around in his hand, then looked back at Huai Shi, "How about it? How does it feel?"

Seeing his ugly face flaunting wealth, Huai Shi couldn’t help but roll his eyes, "With a bit of money, can’t you do something better than this?"

"It’s not mine."

Luo Su raised his hand and tossed the keys over, telling him, "It’s yours, Huai Shi."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!